Winning the Office Leasing Game: Essential Strategies for Negotiating Your Office Lease Like an Expert

By Karen Warner

It's a well-known fact that landlords have the upper-hand in office lease negotiations. But did you know that the majority of tenants leave money on the table by not taking advantage of a few simple strategies. Winning the Office Leasing Game: How to Search for Office Space and Negotiate Your Office Lease Like an Expert will show you the secrets to finding the perfect office space and ensure you don't leave a dime on the negotiating table.

This guide offers essential office leasing tips and strategies, including:

* Avoiding Lease Gotchas - our thorough lease review checklist will make sure your lease absolutely does NOT include common clauses that unfairly benefit the landlord - at your expense!

* Timely advice on how to negotiate the best rental rates and renewal options that work for you.

* Things to know in advance: sublease options, building classifications, the subtle differences between gross leases, full service, net leases that can cost you dearly.

* The ability to determine your company's exact office space needs - including how to calculate your ideal square footage and gain the most efficient layout - don't pay a penny extra for space you don't need!

* How to find your ideal office - including little-known tools the professionals use for finding unlisted office space.

* How to create and strategically distribute Requests for Proposal (RFPs)-start a bidding war between landlords that will get them aggressively competing for your business (this strategy alone can save your company many thousands of dollars in leasing costs)!

* Award-winning, pro-level tools that just plain work. - The Leasing Needs Assessment, Proposal Evaluation Matrix, plus many others, will make analyzing and managing your lease negotiation easier and simpler than ever before. These alone are worth their weight in gold!

Entering into a commercial lease can be one of the most critical decisions a business will make. While most businesses negotiate a lease once every three to five years, landlords an their representatives are involve in these types of transactions on a daily basis.
Winning the Office Leasing Game will arm you with the information you need to protect the best interests of your company.

Winning the Office Leasing Game will guide you through the process of:

* Determining the office space needs of your business
* Space planning and office design
* Preparing a request for proposal and evaluating proposals
* Negotiating the best possible lease terms
* Construction and tenant improvements
* Protecting your interests after the lease is signed

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karen Warner
• Release date: Jun 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781928742203

Karen Warner

Twenty years ago, Karen Warner was a commercial real estate broker specializing in representing tenants. When a client asked her if there was a book on how to plan an office move, she searched in earnest for information on office relocation. Unable to find a single publication on the topic, she began interviewing seasoned commercial move veterans, moving vendors and commercial real estate consultants to determine the process, logistics and tasks associated with a successful office move. The end-result was the Office Relocation Planner, her first book, which was published in 1997. Today, Karen is a top-selling commercial real estate author, with three titles in print. Karen is a feature writer for numerous business magazines and newspapers throughout the country, as well as a respected commercial real estate expert and public speaker.

Book preview

Winning the Office Leasing Game

Essential Strategies for Negotiating Your Office Lease Like an Expert

2nd Edition, 2015 All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1928742265

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Understanding the Office Leasing Process

Chapter 2: Office Leasing Concepts

The True Cost of Leasing Office Space

Office Space Load Factor

Measuring Office Space

Chapter 3: Establishing Your Office Space Requirements

Office Leasing Factors to Consider

Calculating Office Space Size

Office Space Programming

Chapter 4: Analyzing Available Spaces

Developing a List of Available Properties

Chapter 5: Space Planning

Preliminary Space Planning

Cost of Space Planning

Tenant Improvement Allowance

Working With a Space Planner

Chapter 6: Developing your Request for Proposal (RFP)

Preparing an RFP

Example RFP

Distributing the RFP’s

Chapter 7: Evaluating the Proposals

Proposal Evaluation Form

Proposal Summary Form

Chapter 8: Letter of Intent

Negotiating the Letter of Intent

Example Letter of Intent

Chapter 9: Negotiating the Best Possible Lease Terms

Lease Review

Lease Document Checklist

Executing the Lease

Chapter 10: After the Lease is Signed

Tenant Improvements

After the Move

Summarizing Your Lease

Lease Trigger Dates

Appendix A: Example Lease

Appendix B: Glossary

About the Author

Introduction

Leasing office space is a milestone for any business, whether it’s your first lease or your tenth. It’s a major transaction that comes with many decisions, intense negotiations and significant legal and financial obligations.

Entering into a lease includes a move into new office space, an exciting concept for your employees and clients. But the prospect of entering into a lease can be daunting, especially when you consider that landlords and their representatives negotiate leases on a daily basis…it’s their job. And, guess what, they are really, really good at it. That’s just one of the many reasons that landlords tend to have the upper hand in office lease negotiations.

And those company’s entering into a lease are at a disadvantage. For instance, did you know that the majority of tenants leave money on the table by not taking advantage of a few simple strategies?

Winning the Office Leasing Game: Essential Strategies for Negotiating Like an Expert will ensure you don't leave a dime on the negotiating table. It’s the guide to doing it right – the product of years of experience and research throughout my career as a commercial real estate broker and tenant representative. Over the past 20 years, I’ve represented hundreds of tenants and successfully negotiated more than 3,000,000 square feet of office lease transactions. The result is a comprehensive tool walking you through every step of the office leasing process.

Whether you are a business owner looking for office space or about to sign a lease; or a real estate professional determined to get the best deal for your client, Winning the Office Leasing Game will give you all the tools you’ll need to complete a successful leasing transaction.

Put your side of the negotiating table on equal ground with the landlord's using our expert advice and start winning the office leasing game today.

Chapter 1: Understanding the Office Leasing Process

Leasing office space is among the highest expenses a business incurs, second only to the cost of salaries and wages. It can also be a time-consuming and stressful process. Being organized and prepared will give your company an advantage, enabling you to move into your preferred location at competitive terms.

The steps involved in the office leasing process are outlined below. The following chapters provide details to help you negotiate the best possible terms for your office lease.

Needs Analysis - Define your basic requirements for office space.

Calculate the amount of square footage your business will need.

Determine the type of building that best suits your business and brand.

Choose your preferred location.

Consider employee needs, services, and amenities.

Market Research - Study market conditions and locate available property vacancies.

Conduct a thorough market survey of available properties meeting your requirements or obtain a list of available properties from your commercial real estate agent.

Reduce the list of properties by excluding any that are unsuitable.

Tour Properties - Complete site visits for each of the properties that meet your facility requirements.

Schedule a property tour for each of the remaining facilities.

Tour properties, recording specific features and notes for each site.

If necessary, revisit specific properties to gather additional information.

Establish a Short List - Narrow your list of properties to the top few that are the most desirable.

Compare property characteristics, including size, cost, location and image.

Identify the two or three properties that best meet your criteria.

Preliminary Space Planning - Define any modifications that will be required to make each space ideal for your business.

Engage an architect to create a preliminary space plan for each of your top two or three building alternatives.

Determine the general type and scope of the changes your business requires for each property.

Establish the estimated cost and duration of construction and remodeling.

Requests for Proposal (RFPs) - Encourage competition between landlords with a detailed RFP.

Prepare and distribute Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to the landlords of your top two or three building choices.

Receive RFP responses from landlords.

Select a Building or Space - Determine which space is your first choice.

Prepare an objective analysis to evaluate the RFP responses received.

Based on the RFP analysis and the preliminary space plans, determine which space would be the best alternative for your business.

Letter of Intent - Prepare a Letter of Intent outlining your preferred lease terms.

Submit a Letter of Intent to the landlord of your selected property.

Negotiate Letter of Intent terms with landlord.

Review Lease and Negotiate Terms - Finalize lease document.

Request a draft lease